S2 Chinese | Faulty Sentences and Correction: Tutor Prep Guide (6 types, 4 steps, 4 mistakes)

2026-11-12

Tutor lesson-prep guides · Secondary Chinese

Students correct sentences by ear, cannot say why a line is wrong, and freeze when a sentence is only slightly off. This lesson does three things only: sort errors into six types, correct in four steps instead of rewriting, and decide first whether the fault is a missing element or a bad collocation so every change can be justified.

Objectives — Students can: (1) name the six faulty-sentence types, missing element, bad collocation, wrong word order, redundancy, self-contradiction and mismatched conjunction pair, and produce an example of each; (2) correct a faulty sentence in four steps, read once for the spine, check the elements are complete, check collocation and order, then polish, changing only what must change; (3) work out that seven faulty sentences in twenty is 35 per cent and explain why a spine-first scan beats correcting every line; (4) name four punctuation faults, comma used as a full stop, enumeration comma mixed with comma, quote closed after the full stop, and question mark added to a statement, and say why punctuation counts as a sentence error.

01 Prerequisites (3-minute check)

If any of these fails, fix it before the lesson starts.

Skill	Quick check	Pass mark
Sentence elements	What two parts must a sentence have at minimum?	A subject and a predicate
Collocation	Can ti-gao take ren-shu?	No, a headcount takes zeng-jia
Punctuation	What separates enumerated items?	The enumeration comma, not the ordinary comma

02 Lesson flow (45 minutes)

Time	Stage	Tutor does	Student does
0-5 min	Three lines first	Write three sentences, two faulty, ask which is wrong and why	Vote and give one reason
5-16 min	Six types	One example and one test per type, written as a six-row table	Add one example per type
16-26 min	Four-step correction	Demonstrate: spine, elements, collocation and order, polish; no rewriting	Correct one sentence in the same order
26-36 min	Scan and punctuation	Seven faulty in twenty is 35 per cent, so scan the spine first; then the four punctuation faults	Work out thirteen clean lines and state the strategy
36-41 min	Four error cases	Four typical wrong answers, groups explain the faulty step, tutor adds one correction line	Explain one wrong answer
41-45 min	Exit check	Three questions marked on the spot, then name the act to reteach	Hand in three answers

03 Teaching script (read it out)

Scene 1: Act 1: Six types, six tests

The six names are not vocabulary, they are six tests. Missing element: the spine has lost its subject, predicate or object, most often the subject, because Chinese hides it in context and the exam line then has none. Bad collocation: verb and object, or modifier and head, do not fit, so ti-gao ren-shu fails because a headcount only zeng-jia. Wrong order: a modifier sits in the wrong slot, especially in ba constructions and stacked attributives. Redundancy: synonyms doubled, as in qin-yan mu-du kan-jian. Self-contradiction: two halves judge differently, as in da-yue ken-ding. Mismatched pair: sui-ran takes dan-shi and bu-dan takes er-qie, and a wrong pair breaks the logic. Require the type before the correction; no type means the judgement is not finished.

Six tests: missing part, bad fit, wrong slot, said twice, contradictory, wrong pair.

Scene 2: Act 2: Four steps, and the smallest change wins

The usual lost mark is not a miss but an overcorrection: the student rewrites the line. Fix the order: read once and circle subject, predicate, object; check the three are present and supply the least possible; check collocation and order and move only the one word that must move; only then look at punctuation and polish. Students must state what changed and why at every step. If a line has two faults and the question allows one change, choose the fault that most damages the meaning and say so, otherwise changing both loses marks.

Spine, elements, collocation and order, then punctuation; smallest change.

Scene 3: Act 3: Scanning and punctuation, faults are not only in words

Practice should teach a strategy. Seven faulty lines in twenty is 35 per cent, roughly one in three, so scan the spine first because missing elements and bad collocations are the most frequent. Punctuation is part of the same skill: a comma used as a full stop glues two sentences together, mixing the enumeration comma with the ordinary one flattens the layers of a list, closing the quote after the full stop blurs the boundary of quoted speech, and a question mark on a statement is an abuse. For each fault students must say which layer of meaning a reader would misread. Then reread: the original meaning must survive the correction.

Scan the spine; for punctuation name the layer of meaning at risk.

04 Question types and worked steps

Type	Example	Steps	Answer
Missing element	In tong-guo zhe ci huo-dong, shi wo ming-bai tuan-dui jing-shen, where is the fault?	(1) Find the spine (2) The frame tong-guo … shi … leaves no subject (3) Delete tong-guo or shi (4) Keep the meaning, change one place	Missing subject: delete tong-guo or shi so the activity or wo becomes the subject
Bad collocation	In wo-men yao nu-li ti-gao tong-xue de xue-xi ren-shu, where is the fault?	(1) Find verb and object (2) ti-gao takes shui-ping or xiao-lu (3) ren-shu takes zeng-jia (4) Make the smallest change	Bad collocation: change ti-gao to zeng-jia, or ren-shu to shui-ping
Wrong order	In ta ba gong-ke zuo-tian zuo-wan le, where is the fault?	(1) Look at the ba construction (2) A time adverbial goes before ba (3) Move zuo-tian (4) Check the meaning is unchanged	Wrong order: ta zuo-tian ba gong-ke zuo-wan le
Conjunction pair	In sui-ran tian-qi hen leng, dan-shi ta reng-ran chuan duan-xiu, what is wrong?	(1) Find the pair (2) sui-ran with dan-shi is correct (3) Check whether the content contradicts (4) Decide this is a logic issue, not a pairing issue	The pair is correct; the exaggeration is the problem, so adjust the second clause rather than swapping the conjunction

Sanity check (teach this): Checks: (1) Correction is not rewriting, one word is enough and changing two can be read as altering the meaning. (2) One line can hold two faults, and a one-change question means choosing the worse fault rather than the first one seen. (3) The tong-guo … shi frame is a missing subject, not a collocation error. (4) A correct conjunction pair with contradictory content is a content fault, so swapping the conjunction is wrong. (5) Punctuation faults count, and fixing only the wording usually earns half marks.

05 Independent practice (3 questions)

Question	Answer	What to watch
Name the six faulty types.	Missing element, bad collocation, wrong order, redundancy, self-contradiction, mismatched pair	All six present
Seven faulty in twenty, what is the rate?	35 per cent, about one line in three	Divides seven by twenty
Which type is qin-yan mu-du kan-jian?	Redundancy, two synonyms for seeing stacked	Names the synonymy

06 Common mistakes and what to say

Mistake	Student writes	Say this
Rewriting instead of correcting	The line is replaced with a preferred wording	Smallest change: delete or swap one word and keep the meaning.
Wrong type named	The tong-guo … shi line is called a collocation error	It has no subject, so it is a missing element.
Both faults changed	Two changes when the question allows one	Choose the fault that most damages the meaning.
Punctuation ignored	Words fixed, a comma standing as a full stop left alone	Punctuation loses the sentence layers and counts as a fault.

07 Homework (paper, section and question numbers)

Secondary Chinese chapter index — Other chapters in this subject run reading, writing, then language basics
Redo word classes and sentence elements — You cannot correct a spine you cannot find, so drill the two chapters together
Lesson prep master index — Other subjects use the same find-the-core-then-justify order

08 Exit check (last 5 minutes)

Question	Answer	Decision
Name the six faulty types.	Missing element, bad collocation, wrong order, redundancy, contradiction, mismatched pair	Missing any means reteach Act 1
What is wrong with ti-gao ren-shu?	Bad collocation, a headcount takes zeng-jia	Failure means reteach Act 1
What is the first correction step?	Read once and find the spine	Answering by ear means reteach Act 2

09 Tutor FAQ

Should students name every error type?

Yes, because questions ask for the cause. Naming serves the answer, while the four-step order serves the judgement, and neither replaces the other.

How many places may be changed?

One when the question says one, choosing the worst fault. If a line truly holds two, add a note about the other but keep a single main change.

Do punctuation marks carry many marks?

Rarely on their own, but a punctuation fault distorts the element analysis and costs reading marks, so mention it every lesson.

Find a tutor — free Tutor Registration →

A TutorZone lesson-prep guide. Written by the TutorZone team; questions and lesson flow are original and are not taken from any school or publisher material.